Do online xiangqi servers follow the real repetition rules?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing.
Direct answer
Many do not. Implementing perpetual chase correctly is genuinely hard, so a lot of servers fall back to a simplified rule — often treating any threefold repetition as a draw, which is the chess rule rather than the xiangqi one. It is the most common place online play diverges from tournament play.
What to check
If you are preparing for over-the-board play, find out what your server does with perpetual check. If it draws, you are practising a resource that will lose you the game in a tournament — which is worse than not practising it at all.
What this site does
Our engine implements the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram casebook, which is the reference that settles the awkward cases. The same engine adjudicates games and verifies every position published on the site.
Related questions
Why is perpetual chase hard to implement?
Because what counts as a chase depends on protection, on whether the capture would be profitable, and on what the other side is doing simultaneously.
Does it matter for casual play?
Rarely — the positions are uncommon. It matters if you play competitively.
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